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Do NHS workers deserve a pay rise? Award-winning midwife asks you to sign her petition

RCM member Natalie Carter by Tim Lezard An award-winning midwife from London has launched a petition calling for public support for a 1% pay award for NHS staff. Natalie Carter (pictured) who won the Midwife of the Year Award in 2011 is targeting the p …

An award-winning midwife from London has launched a petition calling for public support for a 1% pay award for NHS staff.

Natalie Carter (pictured) who won the Midwife of the Year Award in 2011 is targeting the petition at the Secretary of State for Health, Jeremy Hunt. She aims to get him to reverse his opposition to the 1% pay rise, as recommended by the independent NHS pay review body (PRB). The Royal College of Midwives and other health trade unions support the petition.

Natalie is also calling on the government to commit to keeping this well-established system for setting pay in the NHS.

She said: “We in the NHS care passionately about the people we care for and I love what I do caring for expectant and new mothers. We are asking for fair pay, because if we are not recognised for our worth, midwives and other staff will leave because we can no longer afford to work in the NHS.

“There’s an awful lot of good will in the NHS and we knew that would be the case as we began our careers. But it’s being taken for granted by the government. We are not being valued or recognised for our commitment, our worth. Midwives and other staff work very hard under huge pressures, working unpaid overtime and missing breaks. Please support them, sign this petition and tell the government NHS staff are worth it.”

Cathy Warwick, chief executive of the Royal College of Midwives, said: “I applaud this tremendous idea from Natalie and offer her and the petition my full support. What midwives and other NHS staff are asking for is just a 1% pay rise. What this government is rejecting is a pay award that does not even meet the steeply rising cost of living.

“The rejection of the award shows that this government do not value the staff delivering care day in, day out. Investment in staff is an investment in better care, in better maternity services and in a better NHS.”

by Tim Lezard UNISON’s NHS workers, including nurses, occupational therapists, porters, paramedics, medical secretaries, cooks and healthcare assistants have voted “Yes” to industrial action in a dispute over pay in England NHS staff have been denied a pay rise following the government’s decision to ignore the independent PRB recommendation. This means 60% of NHS staff and 70% of nurses won’t get […]